Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers roundtable discussion.

Recently Siliconera was given a chance to participate in a roundtable discussion with Pandemic Studios on Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers. Like the first game, Ten Hammers is one half military tactics and one half fast paced action. To see what else Pandemic has planned for the sequel we go straight to the source.

What lessons learned from Full Spectrum Warrior affected the design and development of Ten Hammers?

We weren’t really sure the new style of gameplay we’d created in FSW was going to be accepted the first time around. With the success of the first game, and a great fan-based to draw inspiration from, we were all very excited to work on Ten Hammers and take the game to the next level.

What are the biggest differences between Ten Hammers and the original Full Spectrum Warrior?

I’d say the biggest difference is the overall pacing of the game. Ten Hammers is a much faster paced game. This is mostly due to the dynamic AI we’ve added to the game. Enemies no longer sit and wait for you to act – they take initiative and try to flank you. This requires the player to think faster in FSW: 10H. Also, we’ve added an entirely new versus multiplayer component to the game. With human players controlling the Insurgent fighters, you never know what to expect.

Are there any gameplay elements you were unable (due to time or resource limitations) to implement in the first game that you intended to make a reality in Ten Hammers?

We felt we left a lot on the table with the first game, and we tried to incorporate many of the things we wanted to do in FSW1 into ten Hammers. For instance, we really wanted to the player to be able to control vehicles and helicopters in FSW. In Ten Hammers you can now!

What gameplay elements do you feel makes both the Full Spectrum Warrior series and Ten Hammers stand out from your competitors?

Well, the interface really. The FSW franchise, to me, has created a user interface that is much better at controlling squads of character on a gaming console. I’ve always been interested in creating new ways for people to interact with a simulated world and I think FSW reflects that.

What elements of the first title worked so well the first time that you basically wanted to ensure that nothing was done to mess with it?

I think we really nailed the immersion and, more specifically, the characterization of the soldiers you commanded. All the characters in the game had individual personalities that made them feel more realistic. The direction we took with Ten Hammers required us to more than quadruple our character count, but we still insisted that all the character have individual personalities.

Are Special Forces on all missions, or are regular soldiers are getting missions? (not just SF)

There is a greater mix of specialty units in Ten Hammers. There are snipers, heavy weapon’s experts, RPG fighters, even an Insurgent spy in one mission. We found that people really like the specialty units in the first game so we incorporated more in Ten Hammers.

Siliconera would like to thank Pandemic Studios, the development team behind Full Spectrum Warrior for answering these questions. Look forward to more coverage of Full Spectrum Warrior in the near future.